— By Leah Silvieus ’21 M.A.R.
The path that led Bo kyung Blenda Im ’12 M.A.R. to Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music—first as a student, then as a fellow, and now as an Assistant Professor of Sacred Music and of Divinity— was somewhat winding. But it has, in a way, led full circle.
In tenth grade Im, a keyboard player, joined a worship band at her church in Southern California. She had been trained in classical music but found herself drawn to worship music and how it supported congregational singing. While her classical background covered some music theory, it didn’t fully prepare her for participating in a worship band. She needed to learn to play by ear.
“I had some unnies [Korean honorific meaning “older sister”] who would show me the ropes sometimes, but I really had to learn how to listen to a worship music track and negotiate how to play in those spaces,” she says. “It was really tough in the beginning.”
Read the full article posted on the Yale Divinity School website.